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Before long, a Knight wearing a helmet and silver armor with a red-lined mantle attached to it appeared before the legion which could easily contend with the whole army. His gait was so buoyant as if he was taking a stroll in the park.

“…… Sure enough, it was you, Lord Lubbock.”
“That’s right. You look like someone with authority, and a trusted retainer of Hiyuki too. I wonder if you can let me pass?”
“May I know what you will do if I let you pass?”
“I will destroy it,” Lubbock asserted with a nonchalant tone, jerking his chin to point at the teleportation device.
“In that case, I can’t let you go through. Besides, I have been tasked by the Princess to protect this place, all the more reason I can’t do that.”
“Do you wish to become an enemy of mine?”

He must have said it pointing at the ally discernment code. Kokonoe replied in a stately manner to Lubbock who asked as if to try it out.

“I have permission from the Princess. There’s no problem in hurting people who are a nuisance. In the worst case scenario I killed someone, they can be revived later so there’s no need to be worried about that either.”

Lubbock gave a broad smile hearing that.

“That’s just so Hiyuki-ish. 一Nevertheless, that’s a bit cold of her even though we used to be from the same guild.”
“The first one to betray was your side. And一”
“And?”
“Princess suspects you might not be the real Lubbock.”

The moment those words poured into his ears, a crack appeared on the nonchalant expression of Lubbock, which had remained unfazed until now.

“…I see.”

Together with his muttering, Lubbock takes out swords in his both hands.

His right hand was grasping the strongest sword, ‘Zetsu’. His left hand was grasping a saber with a light attribute, considering that his opponent was an undead, ‘Yume’. At the same time as Kokonoe judged that he would come at him with his two swords, seven more swords spread behind Lubbock like the wings of a peacock.

‘Hana’, ‘Tori’, ‘Kaze’, ‘Tsuki’, ‘Mabaroshi’, ‘Abuku’, and ‘Kage’ 一 Each one was a sword with notable power and incomparable sturdiness along with different attributes attached to them.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have much time on my hand. Prepare to bear my full might.”
“一ghh.”

Kokonoe originally was a rare monster. Although he later gained the power equivalent to a dungeon boss, he hadn’t had the chance to exchange swords with Lubbock firsthand and he had heard about Lubbock’s strength only through the words of mouth. But with that anecdote一 where he defeated Ikaruga of the thirteen demon generals alone, his strength could only be described in one word, dangerous.

He alone wouldn’t be able to win most likely.

一The actual battle was about how much time he could earn.

The deciding factor of this battle should be how much his summoning force could put forth a struggle against the destructive power of Lubbock.

Reinforcement; even Lubbock might not be able to do anything in a short time if few of the round table class members gathered here. That must be why he wants to end this battle as quickly as possible.

Then the only thing he has to do is to earn time by any means possible!

“Attack!”

Obeying the order of Kokonoe, the Lich fired their respective magic. But… Kokonoe, who decided to keep himself at bay to keep Lubbock from getting closer, blinked in doubt.

Lubbock had used his seven swords as shields to charge unhesitatingly into the center of the skeleton soldier’s horde and swung the swords in both his hands like a windmill as soon as he got there. The skeleton soldiers were cut apart into small pieces like a tree leaf in no time.

Kokonoe turned towards the Lichs who were hesitating that they might get their comrades into friendly fire and gave his order, “Don’t mind, just attack,” while simultaneously summoning another batch of skeleton soldiers.

Things didn’t just stop there as Lubbock received the charged attack of Bone Centipede by crossing the two swords in front of him while the rest of seven swords flew around, cutting the legs of that enormous body. And when Bone Centipede fell down on the ground unable to support its weight, he cut apart its skull with a vertical sword slash.

一What an outlandish man! His power is just…!!

As he looked at his legion getting annihilated from the summoned front, Kokonoe perceived that he wouldn’t be able to last longer at this rate and decided to carry out a direct attack on Lubbock alongside the remaining Necro Scorpion.

Three swords came flying at Kokonoe in zigzag motion from Lubbock’s direction. He happened to see Kokonoe sprung into action while taking down the rushing masses of skeleton soldiers and knights.

“Haaaa!!” Kokonoe left Necro Scorpion to deal with the three swords, closing up to a certain distance before releasing a shockwave with all his might.

“一rgh.” Although this attack also ended up winding the skeleton soldiers in it, it also seemed to cause some damage to Lubbock as an agonizing voice leaked from his mouth.

Kokonoe was about to follow up with an additional attack when the seven swords drew an arc in the air and let loose like rain with horrific momentum.

He immediately used the body of the Necro Scorpion as a shield but the sword rain chopped apart that body with no resistance like a tofu.

“ーSecret Technique • Lightning Burst.”
“Crap!”

Lubbock launched his skill at Kokonoe who had stopped for a moment to defend against the sword rain.

“Arggggh.”

The lightning that fell from the shining sword caught up to Kokonoe who tried to avoid it by leaping back, impaling him. However, that wasn’t the end yet. He can still endure if it’s just that much.

This strike was also supplemented with the power of strongest sword ‘Zetsu’ and one strike had brought down his Hit Points down to 20% but conversely speaking, he still had 20% Hit Points left. Besides, skills were supposed to have certain cooldown after firing once so he still had enough time to recover.

Kokonoe who had thought so soon realized how naive his judgment was. It was true that his opponent would need to wait for cooldown to end to use the same secret technique after using it but the same rule doesn’t apply in case his opponent used another secret technique from a different weapon category.

And while “Zetsu” was a longsword, the “Yume” in his left hand was a Saber. In short…

“一Secret technique • Saber Blitz.”

The slashing attack accompanied by a horrific windforce chopped Kokonoe’s body and blew him apart. But that wasn’t the end of Lubbock’s attack as his other swords chased after him and shaved off his HP till it reached a critical point.

“With this, it will be over.”

Lubbock brandished ‘Zetsu’ in his right hand once again and just as he was about to deliver the final blow to Kokonoe, a sudden lightning dropped on him like a downpour, sending his body flying.

“Arrghhh!?”

The lightning chased after him as he drew his swords in circular formation and somehow defended himself. While he avoided the direct damage, the lightning was gradually chipping away his HP.

ーHe was familiar with this power.

Just as he felt impatience, the area around him suddenly turned dark.

He quickly raised his face overhead and there he saw,
“Sure enough, Naga Raja. …And Hiyuki?”

In front of him was the figure of Hiyuki imposingly standing atop Tengai’s back as she glared at him in displeasure. Lubbock’s face contorted in mixed feelings that held neither joy nor remorse.